Posted on 10/26/2006 6:10:39 PM PDT by Coleus
For years, Trenton lawmakers knew property taxes were suffocating homeowners. They watched school boards and municipal councils approve spending that piled one 6.5 percent property tax increase on top of another, year after year. They bemoaned the highest-in-the-nation tax bills. But they never did anything. For them, decrying confiscatory taxes was a safer political choice than actually doing something. They realized that lowering property taxes, seemingly a good thing, would trig ger consequences -- most of them unappealing.
Simply put, reducing reli ance on property taxes as the major funding source for schools and local government can be achieved only by hiking other taxes, reducing services, consolidating operations or some combination of the three. A Star-Ledger five-part se ries by staff writers Deborah Howlett, Steve Chambers and Dunstan McNichol last week detailed what five other states have done to curb property taxes. In each case, the goal was achieved, but there were tradeoffs. And each case is instructive for New Jersey property owners and legislators struggling now to find a way out of our tax morass.
As Robert Nakosteen, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, put it, "There is no magic bullet. The money has to come from somewhere." The Michigan plan, the one many here like to champion as the solution to the property tax-school funding conundrum, used a sales tax hike to compensate for lost property taxes. Michigan voters were given a choice: Raise the in come tax or the sales tax. The sales tax jumped from 4 percent to 6 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
People get used to government services and government gets used to having the revenue flowing in.
A great marriage
Notice how the Red Star Ledger does not even think about the possibility of LOWERING taxes -- they just dismiss it because it will lessen GOVERNMENT services.
Such is the slavishly pro-Democratic press in this state that has allowed Dem corruption to get so bad that Louisiana politicians look clean by comparison.
My own tax bill went up over $1500 this year; combine that with the sales tax, and I've put replacing our 8-year-old car on hold.
And just the other week, the local paper had a Sunday paper headline about major companies leaving NJ due to cost -- and faulted the companies for putting profits first!
What a bunch of truly clueless idiots we have in NJ in both media and government.
Property taxes are skyrocketing in a lot of places while politicians turn their heads, or worse, be dishonest. Here in Bailey County, Texas we have only one town of any significant size and it is the town that get hits with most of the property taxes while the farmers pay little. Everyone says it relates to the fact that the commissioners are all farmers who live out in the County. My own taxes in Muleshoe went up 16% this year, but worse, they were increased without any opportunity for me to protest. The best I could do was to add a paragraph of protest in my letter with my check. My family is now selling out and taking our retirement money out of the County, and probably the State.
Maybe Trenton needs more money to boost its murder rate. Didn't they fall to like number three or something?
Unless government spending is reduced, discussions about shifting the tax burden are equivalent to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
NJ needs to nullify the ABBOT court order which declared that the middle class and well to do school districts must send money to poor districts so the spending per student is equal to the top five or so school districts in the state. Problem is the aid to poor districts go up anytime the wealthy districts increase their spendings. In a global economy where the elites and wealthy have benefited greatly from increased corporate profits from cheaper international labor, having an increase in the school budget so their kids can have marble tiled locker rooms, first class weight room for their varsity teams is small compared to the huge bonuses they get, is not the problem. The problem is that everytime the wealthy school districts increase property taxes (50+ is for public schools) there is an automatic increase for the mandated state aid to the poor ABBOT districts. Currently there is not much state aid left for the middle class districts. Local governments are forced to make up the shortfalls of state aid thru tax increases because of state unfunded mandates must be implemented for the schools. At the rate the wealthy districts increase their spending (thus more money needed for the ABBOT districts) there will be be a need to increase state spending for education just to cover the ABBOT mandates alone.
Move out of state
Get rid of the property tax and switch to a land-value tax. Much fairer and easier.
Last suggestion by Corslime was that if we desegregated our schools, he would lower property taxex. I don't want to know what the hell he meant by that. I do know it turned by stomach.
Hard to believe but that's what was reported in the Red Star.
Yes, do not lower expenses and taxes, or let the taxpayers decide.
Why everything would go straight to hell.
Just look at Florida with it's homestead exemptions and that state income tax. - Oh wait, there is none. Never mind.
Oh how true, I see more people moving away all the time. I am trying to stay here as I really enjoy where I live but the taxes and traffic are horrible. I am still upset our former gay gov got no charges for anything and is now making money off the media and books.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Did you see the News headline. Our Schools in NJ are underfunded bu 192 million. LOL
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
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